Jail detoxification unit strike threat

The Prison Officers Association (POA) will meet officials from the Department of Justice tomorrow for talks to avert a strike over the staffing of a new detoxification unit in Mountjoy.

The prison governor, Mr John Longergan, told the Dail sub-committee on drugs yesterday that the detoxification unit is due to open next week.

The POA general secretary, Mr Denis McGrath, said his association was objecting to a ministerial plan to staff the unit with agency nurses from outside the prison.

The POA wants prison medical orderlies to staff the unit, Mr McGrath said. He said the unit needed six medical staff and the prison had four.

Mr McGrath said he hoped the issue would be resolved tomorrow and the POA was already in discussion with the Department on setting up a professional nursing qualification for prison officers.

The PD spokeswoman on justice, Ms Liz O'Donnell, said the detoxification unit represented a very important start to a very important programme and it would be unfortunate if it was blocked by industrial action.